Hello, Dear Reader!

This past weekend was ‘Thanksgiving’ here in Canada; it’s really no surprise that Thanksgiving comes in the fall because this is when the earth is most fully offering up her bounty.  Here on the west coast this can mean everything from an abundant vegetable harvest to wineries starting up production to the salmon returning to their birth streams to spawn a new generation.

For many people the Thanksgiving holiday is associated with family get-togethers, a huge dinner and too many turkey leftovers.  That can certainly be a part of it, although our Thanksgiving this year involved dinner out at a Japanese-fusion restaurant on Saturday night, and a wonderful meal of blackened fish and root vegetables on Monday.  The turkeys were safe from us this year, although we can’t really think of turkey dinner without remembering Stuart McLean’s stories on the Vinyl Café about ‘Dave Cooks the Turkey‘, followed by ‘Dave Raises the Turkey‘.

But, as the name of the holiday implies, Thanksgiving is about more than food.  It’s about giving thanks, and we have so much for which to be grateful.  At the top of our lists, we have each other.  As of this writing we have been a couple for one month and five days shy of sixteen years and in a couple of weeks we’ll be celebrating our Eighth Anniversary of Being Married.  We celebrate each other and our lives together every day, and we’re not just a married couple – we’re also each other’s best friend.  Radiating out from ‘Us’ is our wonderful and diverse family.  Geographically separated, our family is spread out over several Canadian provinces and one US state.  Closest to us are our sons and their partners and our two grandsons and it was for the opportunity to have time together that we headed off-island on Sunday.  The boys are still small, but they grow so fast!  And yes, everyone says that.  We had a chance to see our other ‘grandson’ (great-nephew) last month when that branch of our family tree came here for a visit.  We’re also blessed with a number of friends, some of whom are new and some of whom we’ve known for decades.  We have some remarkably close friends that we’ve never met, except through the power of the internet.  We share common dreams, common aspirations and common ideals, and for us that’s what friends are really about.

Living here on Vancouver Island, we’re surrounded by an incredible beauty.  The city of Victoria is becoming ‘home’ for us, a concept  that neither of us could even envision for much of our lives.  It’s a great city, warm and welcoming and we feel lucky to live here.  With the moderating climates of the Pacific on our doorstep the (relatively) warm temperatures means that even in mid-October we have flowers in bloom.  Last winter we had snow for about 10 minutes on a Wednesday afternoon in March; it didn’t stay long.  Mother Nature may have more in store for us this year… we’ll see!

At the risk of running out of superlatives we won’t continue to list all of the many reasons we have to be thankful, but we do encourage you to discover what reasons you have to be thankful in your life and to remember that giving thanks doesn’t have to be a one-day-a-year affair.  It was Dr. Wayne Dyer (so far as we know) who first coined the phrase of living with ‘an attitude of gratitude‘.   Maintaining an attitude of gratitude means that being thankful becomes a part of every moment, every day.  This can help us heal our past, but living with such a Way of Being also means that we carry this idea with us into our future.

A recent ‘Secret Scrolls‘ message had the following to offer:

“From The Secret Daily Teachings

We can never bring anything to us unless we are grateful for what we have. In fact, if somebody was completely and utterly grateful for everything, they would never have to ask for anything, because it would be given to them before they even asked.

That is the power of Gratitude.

May the joy be with you,

Rhonda Byrne”

And finally, one idea you may wish to take up came to us from a friend of ours, Rev. Karin Wilson.  In a recent newsletter from the Centre for Spiritual Living^TM Kelowna, Karin wrote:

“This month, I took up the challenge to write in a Gratitude Journal. I did this years ago in the midst of the worst time in my life (pending marriage break-up and all that goes with that), but somehow on the path to healing, I left that tool behind.

I gave gratitude daily in my treatment work, but didn’t make a point of writing it down in my journal.

What I’m noticing now is that writing it down is not only a good practice in the moment, but good practice in the long-run. I wrote a diary for decades (literally). At that time, I turned to my diary to spew out my crap. The result was every time I looked back, it only depressed me more.

A Gratitude Journal achieves exactly the opposite. Imagine this: one year from today I’ll have page after page of great things (and small things) that have made my life worth living. And I’ll also know more about what makes me tick – what makes me grateful to be here, gives me purpose, and makes my light shine.

A Gratitude Journal is a gift we give to ourselves – not just for the moment, but for all times. I dare you to make the commitment and see what reveals itself to you!

Rev. Karin”

By the way, if you live in the Kelowna, BC area or happen to find yourself there on a Wednesday evening, Karin and some others operate a ‘Gratitude Café‘ from 7:00-8:30 p.m.  More information is available on the Centre for Spiritual Living’s website.

And so, our thanks to you this fine October day for dropping by our little corner of the internet!  We’re so glad to have you here with us!!

Hugs,
M&M

P.S. Stacey Kramer gave a short (3-minute) but emotionally-compelling talk at TED 2010 titled, “The best gift I ever survived“.

P.S. II, the Sequel.  Went for a walk this afternoon and came across a whole patch of crocuses in bloom.  I’m convinced that flowers in Victoria bloom whenever they feel like it.  The bees, however, didn’t care.  There were more than a dozen honeybees, a rather large bumblebee, an alfalfa leaf cutter bee, a hoverfly and even a ladybird beetle zooming around the flowers (although I’m not sure why the beetle was there – enjoying the view, perhaps).  The bees certainly appreciated the nectar, the flowers appreciated the pollination the bees were providing, and I was mesmerized by the whole scene.

Mike.